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'Gotcha' Master Tastes His Own Medicine

LONDON - He has duped England's soccer coach, members of the royal family and a procession of philandering athletes and petty criminals, getting them to commit indiscretions that were then splashed as scoops on the front page of one of Britain's most rambunctious tabloids, News of the World.

But Mazher Mahmood, a reporter whose modus operandi is to dress up as a wealthy Arab businessman and secretly record conversations with his unwitting victims, recently met his match in George Galloway, a member of the British Parliament and frequent critic of Israel and the United States.

Mr. Galloway, who represents a heavily Muslim area of East London, "outed" the reporter by publishing photos of him on the Internet after a court battle with News of the World. The pictures went up on georgegalloway.com, Mr. Galloway's Web site, this month after a meeting in which Mr. Galloway contended that Mr. Mahmood tried to goad him into making anti-Semitic remarks and to accept improper political contributions.

The incident has raised new questions about the lengths to which Fleet Street will go to expose public figures' drug habits, corruption and sexual peccadilloes. While undercover reporting is not unheard of elsewhere, Britain's celebrity-obsessed tabloids often push the limits. With nearly a dozen national newspapers jostling for attention at the newsstand, the competition for hot news is sometimes fueled by cold cash.

News of the World, which declined to comment or to make Mr. Mahmood available for an interview, maintains that the investigations he oversees have resulted in the conviction of more than 130 criminals. But critics say that Mr. Mahmood's reporting seems primarily aimed at entrapping public figures for the sake of headlines.

"Among the red-top tabloids, subterfuge has become the norm," said Roy Greenslade, a columnist for The Daily Telegraph, referring to populist papers like News of the World and its sister publication, The Sun. Both are owned by the News Corporation, the company controlled by Rupert Murdoch. In 1989, when Mr. Greenslade was managing editor of The Sunday Times, he fired Mr. Mahmood, then a reporter at that paper, for trying to cover up a mistake he had made in a story.

Mr. Mahmood's fake sheik routine has ensnared the 10th Earl of Hardwicke; Princess Michael of Kent; and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, among others. More recently, Sven-Goran Eriksson, the coach of England's soccer team, was lured to a meeting in Dubai with Mr. Mahmood, who was posing as a potential buyer of a soccer team. Mr. Eriksson is said to have discussed the shortcomings of some of his players and appeared to scout around for a new job, indiscretions which were followed by an early termination of his contract this summer.

While Mr. Eriksson's lawyers have announced a lawsuit against News of the World, claiming "a gross invasion of privacy," experts say such cases are difficult to win.

On several occasions, however, British courts have raised questions about the paper's operations. In 1999, the Earl of Hardwicke, found guilty of selling drugs to Mr. Mahmood in a sting, was given a suspended sentence by a judge who warned that newspapers "should carefully examine and consider their approach to investigations where it involves no police participation."

Mr. Galloway is a particularly enticing figure for the aggressive British press. In 2004, he won a libel suit against The Daily Telegraph, which accused him of receiving payments from Saddam Hussein. This winter, he became a subject of tabloid ridicule when he appeared on the reality television show "Celebrity Big Brother," where at one point he dressed as a cat.

But when Mr. Mahmood, posing as a supporter of Mr. Galloway's Respect Party, approached the politician, Mr. Galloway wrote on his Web site that he "immediately smelled a rat."

Mr. Galloway said Mr. Mahmood and an associate offered to provide illegal financing for the party and made leading remarks in an effort to catch Mr. Galloway making anti-Semitic remarks (which Mr. Galloway did not do).

Mr. Galloway reported the matter to the police, claiming "a blatant and outrageous attempt to suborn a member of Parliament," but a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Service of London said that the matter had been closed amid "insufficient grounds for a criminal inquiry."

Mr. Galloway also decided to post photos of Mr. Mahmood -- a close-up shot as well as a picture of him in sheik attire -- on his Web site. In an unusual twist for a newspaper that generally champions freedom of expression, News of the World sought to block him from doing so, contending that displaying Mr. Mahmood's image would endanger a reporter who had received death threats from criminals he had helped to lock up.

The judge disagreed, writing that the real goal seemed to be "the protection of his earnings capability and publication of his investigative journalism and his utility to his employers in that respect."

Mr. Mahmood, who is 43, is now exposed, but Mr. Greenslade said he thought the fake sheik would return. Given that Mr. Mahmood has used the costume since the 1980's, the routine can probably work again.

"Every time we think he's put the robes away, he takes them to the dry cleaners and then brings them out again," he said.